Helmet for communication in extreme wind and environmental noise

ABSTRACT

A protective headgear including a multi-sensor array having a bone conduction microphone, air conduction microphone, signal processor, and speakers; a signal processor that processes vibration signal data and tonal signal data to produce combined data representative of the vocal communication to substantially reduce or eliminate noise; and a method of applying a signals optimized combination algorithm to optimize the output by intelligently combining the outputs from the two different types of sensors for both working in a noisy environment and quiet environment.

RELATED APPLICATION

The subject patent application claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Appln. No. 62/969,039, filed Feb. 1, 2020, entitled “Multi-SensorArray Algorithm and Construction for Helmet Communication in ExtremeWind Noise and Environmental Noise Situation”. The entirety of theaforementioned application is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject application is in the field of speech communication andspeech recognition which relate to hands-free Bluetooth headsetcommunication systems embedded with multi-sensors for audio signalacquisition, echo cancellation, interference sound cancellation, andextreme wind noise and environmental noise resistance, while havingoverall noise cancellation capabilities, pertaining particularly tomethods and apparatus that facilitate such speech communication inhostile noisy environments.

BACKGROUND

The conventional Bluetooth helmet headset communicator uses a closetalking bi-directional noise cancellation microphone or boom microphonewith a very thick wind filter. This approach helps to cut down onenvironmental noise and wind noise. However, it faces a more severeproblem when the device is used in fast speed rides where wind noise isthe issue such as snowmobiles, motorcycles, fast open top vehicles,all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), gliders, fast surface craft, light vessels,etc. due to the directional microphones being very susceptible to windnoise. In this case, an extremely thick wind filter can be implemented.While such designs provide a voice input channel to the headset, theboom of the microphone imposes an awkward industrial design issue to theoverall appearance of the headset. Also, the design of a boom microphonenormally involves movable mechanical parts. This affects devicedurability and manufacturing cost. In many situations, a boom microphoneis not practical.

Recently, a small array has been proposed to be used in mobile devicessuch as headsets with minor success. The small array consists of twoomni-directional microphones spaced at about 2.1 cm apart for a 16 KHzsampling frequency. For an 8 KHz sampling rate, the spacing between themicrophones needs to be doubled. The small array forms a beam thatpoints to the user's mouth. It can also form an area on its back planeto nullify an interference source. However, the small array is onlyeffective for a near field source. Further, the 2.1 cm spacingrequirement can also be a challenge for small mobile devices, e.g., thebottleneck of identification issues. This small array is also extremelysusceptible to wind noise.

Bone conduction microphones can be used to help solve both theenvironmental noise and wind noise issues. However, for the boneconduction microphone to work well, it should come into good contactwith the user's skin surface in the head area. If the contact is poor,many signals can be lost leading to poor communication quality. If thereis no contact, the bone microphone will fail completely. However,maintaining good contact can become very intrusive and can causesignificant discomfort to the user at the contact point of the user'sskin surface. It may also defeat the ease of use of the system.Therefore, it would be desirable to have a mounting that is somehow notintrusive while providing excellent contact with the user surface.

Further, to minimize external noise from getting into the bone acousticsensor, it is desirable to isolate the bone acoustic sensor from thisnoise source through any direct or indirect mechanical vibration, etc.,especially when mounted into any helmet where the user constantlygenerates mechanical vibration noise, such as external noise impact onthe helmet, walking, eating, etc.

Further usage of a bone conducting sensor is not sensitive to highfrequency speech, so the speech quality may be degraded.

The above-described context with respect to conventional microphones ismerely intended to provide an overview of current technology and is notintended to be exhaustive. Other contextual description, andcorresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodimentsdescribed herein, will become further apparent upon review of thefollowing detailed description.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the specification inorder to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of thespecification. This summary is not an extensive overview of thespecification. It is intended to neither identify key or criticalelements of the specification nor delineate the scope of any particularembodiments of the specification, or any scope of the claims. Its solepurpose is to present some concepts of the specification in a simplifiedform as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented inthis disclosure.

The present application provides various embodiments for a wearablearray using two different types of sensors, a unique signal processingmethod and a unique structure to effectively suppress wind noise andenvironmental noise. The wearable array will enable the device to beused in extremely windy condition and hostile noisy condition such asriding a bike, snowmobile, ATV or even skydiving.

An example embodiment of the present application provides an apparatusintegral with, or attachable to, a protective headgear, comprising acushioned bendable material integral with, or attachable to, an insideof a top part of the protective headgear; a bone conduction microphone,at a first position within the cushioned bendable material, that obtainsvibration signal data representative of a vibration signal associatedwith vibration of a user vertex area of skull bone of a user, whereinthe user vertex area of skull bone is located at a top part of skin of ahead of the user that contacts or substantially contacts the boneconduction microphone, and wherein the vibration signal results fromvocal communication of the user; an air conduction microphone integralwith, or attachable to, the protective headgear at a second positionaway from the first position of the bone conduction microphone by atleast a defined distance, wherein the air conduction microphone obtainstonal signal data representative of a tonal signal, received by the airconduction microphone via air and representative of the vocalcommunication of the user; and a signal processor that processes thevibration signal data and the tonal signal data, to produce combineddata representative of the vocal communication that substantiallyreduces or eliminates at least one of a first noise associated with thevibration signal data or a second noise associated with the tonal signaldata.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the apparatuscomprises a wind sensor that senses wind signal data representative ofan air noise signal resulting from incident air flow on the protectiveheadgear, and wherein the signal processor processes the vibrationsignal data, the tonal signal data, and the wind signal data to producethe combined data representative of the vocal communication thatsubstantially reduces or eliminates at least one of the first noiseassociated with the vibration signal data, the second noise associatedwith the tonal signal data, or a third noise associated with the windsignal data.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the secondposition is toward a front of the protective headgear relative to thefirst position by at least the defined distance, wherein, at the firstposition within the cushioned bendable material at the inside of the toppart of the protective headgear, the bone conduction microphone issubstantially isolated from other vibrational signals, wherein the othervibration signals comprise signals resulting from wind impacting theheadgear or from external environment sound generated outside of theheadgear impacting the headgear, and wherein the external environmentsound comprises motor sound generated by a motor or engine.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein a radiofrequency transmitter to transmit the vocal communication by the user toanother device; and a radio frequency receiver to receive othercommunications from the other device, wherein the other device is a userequipment or Internet of Things device.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the positionof the bone conduction microphone within the cushioned bendable materialand the bone conduction sensor facing the top part of the headcorresponding to the user vertex isolates the bone conduction microphonefrom interference from the radio frequency transmitter or the radiofrequency receiver.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein a firstspeaker that outputs a first audio signal received from the signalprocessor representative of first audio for a first region associatedwith a left ear associated with the head; and a second speaker thatoutputs a second audio signal from the signal processor representativeof second audio for a second region associated with a right earassociated with the head.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein, prior toproducing the combined signal, a gain equalization is applied to thebone conduction microphone and the air conduction microphone to ensure aconsistency of gain of respective outputs with respect to one another.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the signalprocessor comprises an acoustic echo canceller that removes orsubstantially removes, from the combined signal, echo signals thatresult from acoustic coupling between at least one of the boneconduction microphone and a speaker that renders the vocal communicationof the user, or the air conduction microphone and the speaker.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the cushionedbendable material comprises at least one of at least one rubberized foamlayer or at least one silicon casing layer.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the vibrationsignal data is represented as a first fast fourier transform of thevibration signal, wherein the tonal signal data is represented as asecond fast fourier transform of the tonal signal, and wherein thesignal processor processing the vibration signal data and the tonalsignal data to produce the combined data comprises the signal processordetermining whether a first running average energy of the vibrationsignal is greater than a second running average energy of the tonalsignal.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the signalprocessor processing the vibration signal data and the tonal signal datato produce the combined data further comprises, in response to the firstrunning average energy being determined to be greater than the secondrunning average energy, applying a non-linear Fuzze function of thesecond running average energy divided by the first running averageenergy.

Another example embodiment of an apparatus integral with, or attachableto, a protective headgear relates to an apparatus, wherein the signalprocessor processing the vibration signal data and the tonal signal datato produce the combined data further comprises, in response to the firstrunning average energy being determined to be less than the secondrunning average energy, applying a non-linear Fuzze function of thefirst running average energy divided by the second running averageenergy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the possible locations of the bone conduction sensor.

FIG. 2 illustrates the mounting of a multi-sensor array in a typicalhelmet.

FIG. 3a illustrates the overall system block diagram

FIG. 3b illustrates a diagram of the general structure of themulti-sensor array.

FIG. 4a illustrates the perspective view of the bone conduction sensor.

FIG. 4b illustrates the front view of the bone conduction sensor.

FIG. 4c illustrates the sectional view of the bone conduction sensor

FIG. 5 illustrates the exploded view and how the sensor is embedded intothe rubberized foam.

FIG. 6a illustrates a functional block diagram of the multi-sensorarray.

FIG. 6b illustrates a flow diagram in accordance with one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates a plot of a Fuzzy S Function having exemplaryscenarios in which exemplary parameters are satisfied in accordance withone or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 8 is a block flow diagram for a method in which a helmet performscommunication in extreme wind and environmental noise in accordance withone or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 9a illustrates a bone conduction microphone amplifier schematicdiagram.

FIG. 9b illustrates a layout of the bone conduction microphoneamplifier.

FIG. 10 illustrates a non-limiting computing environment in which one ormore embodiments described herein can be implemented.

FIG. 11 illustrates a non-limiting networking environment in which oneor more embodiments described herein can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is merely illustrative and is notintended to limit embodiments and/or application or uses of embodiments.Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed orimplied information presented in the preceding Background or Summarysections, or in the Detailed Description section.

One or more embodiments are now described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like referenced numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea more thorough understanding of the one or more embodiments. It isevident, however, in various cases, that the one or more embodiments canbe practiced without these specific details, or with other methods,components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures,materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoidobscuring certain aspects.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” or “anembodiment,” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment,” “in one aspect,” or “in an embodiment,” in various placesthroughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

The words “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” are used herein to meanserving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance ofdoubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by suchexamples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as“exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meantto preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known tothose of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that theterms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used ineither the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intendedto be inclusive—in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an opentransition word—without precluding any additional or other elements.

Referring to FIG. 1, considering variations and alternative embodimentsof a bone conduction microphone, it is possible that a vibrationgenerating means could be secured above the skin to any of the skullbones on a user for being vibrated to transmit such vibrations throughthe bones of the skull to stimulate the inner ear to create theperception of sound in the user.

In this regard, vibration generating means are adapted to be in contactabove the skin for receipt of a signal by electromagnetic coupling froman output transmitter for causing vibration of the skull. Vibrationgenerating means include means for securing the vibration generatingmeans to a skull bone of the user.

FIG. 1 illustrates the areas of the user's skull 100 where a speechsignal can be picked up by a bone conduction sensor. For helmetcommunication, with one or more of the various embodiments of thesubject application, a structure can be easily installed in a helmet toensure that a bone acoustic sensor will effectively come into contactwith the user's vertex 102.

Although the vertex 102 on the top of the skull is preferred, otherskull bones of a user may be utilized including the right temple 104,the left temple 106, or the forehead 108. In one embodiment, direct bonetransmission is used, which enables hearing to be maintained via asystem independent of air conduction and the inner ear althoughintegrated with an air conduction system.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a combination head-protectivehelmet 200 including an air conduction microphone 202 and a boneconduction microphone 204 mounted on the helmet which combination is thefirst embodiment of the present application and is beneficial for usinga mobile phone in hands-free mode, operating any wireless communicationdevices, or communication in the intercom mode between a plurality ofusers. It will be further understood that the head-protective helmet 200includes, inter alia, a transceiver (not shown in FIG. 2), and that thetransceivers mounted on the helmet worn by the user receive and transmitvoice communications.

It will be understood, generally, that the head-protective helmet 200illustrated in FIG. 2 may include a transceiver (not shown), transceivercircuitry (not shown) residing in the space suitably fastened between acushioned bendable material 206 and the inner surface of the internalimpact cap 208, a bone conduction microphone 204, an air conductionmicrophone 202, speakers 210 shown in FIG. 2 as being mounted on eachear cup 212, and a suitable antenna (not shown) residing internally ofthe head-protective helmet 200 between the cushioned bendable material206 and the internal impact cap 208 as can be best understood byreferring to FIG. 2.

The ear cup 212 may include a suitable rigid outer shell 214 and asuitable plastic foam ring 216 residing interiorly of and suitablysecured to the inner surface of the outer shell 214. It will beunderstood generally from FIG. 2 that the ear cup 212, and thereby thespeaker 210, are mounted to the head-protective helmet 200, particularlythe internal impact cap 208, towards the side of the face of the user(FIG. 1). Such mounting of the ear cup 212 can be provided, as shown inFIG. 3. As may be noted from FIG. 3, the bone conduction microphone 204of the head-protective helmet 200 is mounted to the internal impact cap208 to place the bone conduction microphone 204 in conduction orcommunication with the vertex of the user, the air conduction microphone202 in voice communication with the mouth of the user, and the speaker210 in voice communication with the ear of the user. The cushionedbendable material 206 provides insulation and impact absorbing mountingfor the bone conduction microphone 204, the air conduction microphone202, and speaker 210.

Referring to the non-limiting example embodiments of FIGS. 3a and 3b ,the bone conduction microphone 304, the air conduction microphone 302,and speaker 310 are suitably connected to the transceiver 322 andtransceiver circuitry by suitable leads 318. As can be understood fromFIG. 3, the multi-sensor array 300 may further include a suitablebattery 320 residing in a recess formed in the outer portion of thecushioned bendable material 306 of the internal impact cap (not shown);battery 320 can be suitably connected to the transceiver 322 by leads308 to provide energy to the transceiver 322, bone conduction microphone304, air conduction microphone 302, and speakers 310.

Referring again to FIGS. 3a and 3b , there is illustrateddiagrammatically a further embodiment of the present application whichincludes the above-described combination head-protective helmet andmulti-sensor array 300 mounted thereon, in addition includes the boneconduction microphone 304, the air conduction microphone 302, andspeaker 310 as being worn by the user, and which was described above asbeing for relatively long-range communications between users. It will beunderstood that in this embodiment is a signal processor 324 thatprocesses the vibration signal data and the tonal signal data, toproduce combined data representative of the vocal communication thatsubstantially reduces or eliminates at least one of a first noiseassociated with the vibration signal data or a second noise associatedwith the tonal signal data.

The combination of an air conduction microphone 302 and a boneconduction microphone 304 provide the highest possible level of speechintelligibility and speech quality in both very noisy environments andalso in quiet and calm conditions. Some low frequency signals arecategorized as wind noise while other intrusive sounds are themodulation recognition higher than characteristic frequency being talk.The system described in FIG. 3 hides the wind noise in a sound signaleffectively.

A bone conduction microphone 304, at a first position within thecushioned bendable material, obtains vibration signal datarepresentative of a vibration signal associated with vibration of theuser's vertex area of skull bone. The user vertex area of skull bone islocated at a top part of skin of a user's head that contacts orsubstantially contacts the bone conduction microphone 304. The vibrationsignal results from vocal communication of the user. The bone conductionmicrophone 304 is extremely sensitive. Therefore, it is extremelysusceptible to radio frequency (RF) interference. A bone conductionsensor amplifier design places the bone conduction sensor away from thetransceiver 322 RF source relative to the RF interference, so as tosignificantly reduce RF interference and to provide a clean signaloutput to a processor board. The transceiver 322 comprises a radiofrequency transmitter 326 that transmits the vocal communication of theuser to another device and a radio frequency receiver 328 that receivesother communications from other devices. The other devices can be userequipment or Internet of Things devices.

An air conduction microphone 302 is at a second position away from thefirst position of the bone conduction microphone. The air conductionmicrophone 302 obtains tonal signal data representative of a tonalsignal, received by the air conduction microphone via air andrepresentative of the vocal communication of the user. The secondposition is towards the front of the protective headgear relative to thefirst position by at least the defined distance. The first positionwithin the cushioned bendable material at the inside of the top part ofthe protective headgear, the bone conduction microphone 304 issubstantially isolated from other vibrational signals. The othervibration signals comprise signals resulting from wind impacting theheadgear or from external environment sound generated outside of theheadgear impacting the headgear. The external environment soundcomprises motor sound generated by a motor or engine.

A speaker 310 outputs an audio signal received from the signal processor324 representative of audio for a first region associated with the leftear of the user. Another speaker 310 outputs an audio signal from thesignal processor 324 representative of second audio for a second regionassociated with the right ear of the user.

Referring to the example, non-limiting embodiments of FIGS. 4a, 4b, and4c , a bone conduction microphone 404 is manually activated by touchingthe sensor to the vertex of the skull. The cushioned bendable material406 can include electrical contacts that can be disposed aroundrespective ends of the bone conduction microphone 404 to providereadings of communication. The encased bone conduction microphone 404protrudes from the cutout in the compressible foam material to make apressured contact with the head at the user vertex. In embodiments, theelectrical contacts can comprise adhesive copper foil, conductive paint,conductive glue, or the like. Conductive wires can be used to provideelectrical connections to electrical contacts by soldering or by meansof conductive glue. The resistance change between wires can be convertedto a voltage output by the circuitry.

The bone conduction microphone is embedded in the cushioned bendablematerial 406 and positioned to face a user vertex at a top portion ofthe user's skull. The bone conduction microphone 404 senses a vibrationsignal, representative of vocal sound from the user, from acorresponding vibration of the user vertex at the top portion of theskull. The bone conduction microphone 404 being embedded at the topportion substantially isolates the vibration signal sensed by the boneconduction microphone 404 from mechanical vibrations resulting from windon the gear or air vibrations resulting from external sound on the gearfrom external environment sound generated outside of the gear. The boneconduction microphone being embedded in a compressible foam materialcomprises the bone conduction microphone being encased by at least onesilicon layer, resulting in an encased bone conduction microphone 404 inthe compressible foam material that makes contact with the user vertexthrough a cutout in the compressible foam material.

The air conduction microphone senses a sound signal representative ofthe vocal sound received from the user by air. The air conductionmicrophone is not comprised in the cushioned bendable material 406. Theair conduction microphone is positioned away from the bone conductionmicrophone 404 in order to receive the vocal sound of the user by air.

The signal processing unit processes the vibration signal and the soundsignal, to generate a combined signal representative of the vocal soundthat substantially reduces at least one of a first noise associated withthe vibration signal or a second noise associated with the sound signal,and that outputs the combined signal from the headgear apparatus to adevice for further use or processing. The signal processing unitprocesses the vibration signal data and the tonal signal data to producethe combined data. The signal processing unit enhances a defined highfrequency band of frequencies represented in at least the vibrationsignal data.

The combined signal is output from the head-protective helmet to adevice for performing a command by the device associated with a voicecommand determined to be present in the vocal sound of the combinedsignal, storing the vocal sound by the other device, or communicatingthe vocal sound to at least one other device in communication with thedevice.

Referring to example embodiment of FIG. 5, the cushioned bendablematerial 506 comprises at least one rubberized foam layer 502 or atleast one silicon casing layer 508. The bone conduction microphone 504can be disposed, e.g., attachably mounted on a silicon casing layer 508having a determined (first) thickness. The silicon casing layer 508 canbe attachably mounted on a rubberized foam layer 502 of a determined(second) thickness. The second thickness of the rubberized foam layer502 can be greater than the first thickness of the silicon casing layer508. The silicon casing layer 508 can comprise an elastomer (e.g.,silicone elastomer), a polymer, and the like. An external force can beapplied to the bone conduction microphone 504 directly or indirectly.The rubberized foam layer 502, in response to a direct or indirectapplication of external force to the outer shell, can flex between thehead-protective helmet and the silicon casing layer 508, and cangenerate an electric parameter (e.g., resistance) based on the externalforce applied. In embodiments, the electric parameter (e.g., resistance)generated can be proportional to the external force applied.

The range of measurement of external force by the bone conductionmicrophone 504 can be controlled by the relative thicknesses of therubberized foam layer 502 and the silicon casing layer 508, e.g., theratio of thicknesses of the rubberized foam layer 502. The sensitivityof the bone conduction microphone 504 and its dynamic range can beadjusted to a desired level by choosing the desired relative thicknesses(e.g., ratio) of the rubberized foam layer 502 and the silicon casinglayer 508. The larger the relative thickness, the larger the dynamicrange of measurements and smaller the sensitivity of the bone conductionmicrophone 504.

Further, the bone conduction microphone 504 characteristics can behighly repeatable and stable over a desired period of time because thebone conduction microphone 504 can be configured to regain its originalsize, shape, and resistance substantially instantly and substantiallywithout creep. Also, the dynamic range and sensitivity of the boneconduction microphone 504 can be adjusted by choosing the thicknesses ofthe rubberized foam layer 502 and the silicon casing layer 508.

The bone conduction microphone 504 can be provided with adhesive toenable the bone conduction microphone 504 to be removably attached tothe silicon casing layer 508. Adhesive material can be any well-knownadhesive that would securely attach the bone conduction microphone 504to the silicon casing layer 508 and enable it to be worn for a period oftime, but that would also readily enable the multi-sensor array to beremoved from the head-protective helmet. Adhesive material can comprise,for example, a double-sided adhesive foam backing that would allow forcomfortable attachment to the head-protective helmet.

Turning now to FIGS. 6a and 6b , a process for outputting clean andhigh-quality speech output is shown. Process 600 can occur after inputis received from the multi-sensor array 602. At 604, a gain equalizationcalibration is launched on the audio signal. At 606, a combination ofthe signal from the bone conduction microphone and the air conductionmicrophone occurs by applying a signal optimization algorithm. Thesignal processor 620 can include an acoustic echo canceller that removesor substantially removes, from the combined signal, echo signals thatresult from acoustic coupling between the bone conduction microphone anda speaker that renders the vocal communication of the user, or the airconduction microphone and the speaker.

Additional information or configuration settings or options can also beentered. At 608, a further noise and echo cancellation algorithm occursto accomplish wind noise and other noise suppression. After completionof step 608, clean and high-quality speech can be output.

As shown in FIG. 6b , audio circuitry sometimes referred to as a codecor audio codec, can include an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter circuit610. The analog-to-digital converter circuit can be used to digitize ananalog signal, such as an analog audio signal. For example,analog-to-digital converter circuit 610 can be used to digitize one ormore analog microphone signals. Such microphone signals can be receivedfrom the bone conduction microphone or the air conduction microphone.Digital-to-analog converter circuits can be used to generate the analogoutput signal. For example, a digital-to-analog converter circuit caninclude a digital signal corresponding to the audio portion of a mediaplayback event, audio for a phone call, a noise canceling signal, awarning tone or signal (e.g., beep or ring), or any other digitalinformation can be received. Based on this digital information, adigital-to-analog converter circuit can generate a corresponding analogsignal (e.g., analog audio).

Process 600 can be used to perform digital signal processing on adigitized audio signal. The multi-sensor array 602 can also receive adigital audio voice signal. Using the processing functionality, the boneconduction microphone signal and the air conduction microphone signalcan be digitally removed from the digital audio voice signal. The use ofprocessing power of the device in this manner can help to reduce theprocessing burden. This makes it possible to configure with less costand less complex circuitry. Power consumption efficiency and audioperformance can also be improved. If desired, the digital audioprocessing circuitry can be used to supplement or replace the audioprocessing functionality. For example, digital noise canceling circuitrycan be used to remove noise to the speaker.

Due to manufacturing tolerance and error, the bone conduction microphoneand the air conduction microphone can be calibrated and their gainequalized. A gain equalization calibration 604 is applied to the boneconduction microphone and the air conduction microphone to ensure aconsistency of gain of respective outputs with respect to one another.

The signals optimized combination algorithm 606 is used to optimize theoutput signal to achieve the best speech quality and intelligibility byintelligently combining the outputs from the two different types ofsensors for both working in a noisy environment and quiet environment.This is achieved using the following algorithm: Let |S_(b)(f)| be thefast fourier transform (FFT) of the bone conduction signal and Let|S_(a)(f)| be the fast fourier transform (FFT) of the air conductionsignal. Further, let |S_(be)(f)| be the running average energy of thebone conduction signal, and |S_(ae)(f)| be the running average energy ofthe air conduction signal. In a first case, if |S_(be)(f)| is greaterthan |S_(ae)(f)|, then

$\begin{matrix}{R_{ba} = \frac{{S_{be}(f)}}{{S_{ae}(f)}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu}(1)}\end{matrix}$

The optimized combination of the bone conduction signal and the airconduction signal is given as: G_(c)=F(R_(ba)) Eq. (2) where F(*) is anon-linear Fuzze function with R_(ba) as its input. The optimizedcombined output is given as:|S_(ab)(f)|=(1−α*G_(c))*|S_(b)(f)|+G_(c)*|S_(a)(f)| Eq. (3) Where a isan empirically selected value, this value will typically close 1. Thiswill prevent the value (1−α*G_(c)) equal to zero if G_(c) is equal toone. This happens when R_(ba) is very large. This also applies toequation (5) below when R_(ab) is very large. However, in a second case,if |S_(be)(f)| is less than |S_(ae)(f)|, then:

$\begin{matrix}{R_{ab} = \frac{{S_{ae}(f)}}{{S_{be}(f)}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu}(4)}\end{matrix}$

In the second case, the optimized combination of the bone conductionsignal and the air conduction signal is given as: G_(c)=F(R_(ab)), whereF(*) is a non-linear Fuzze function with R_(ab) as its input. And moreparticularly, in the second case, the optimized combined output is givenas: |S_(ab)(f)|=(1−α*G_(c))*|S_(a)(f)|+G_(c)*|S_(b)(f)| Eq. (5).

In the high frequency signal enhancement 612, the optimized combinedoutput high frequency signal may still be weak. In this case, the outputfrom the high frequency band of the filter is further amplified toenhance the high frequency portion of the speech signal. As illustratedin the flow diagram FIG. 6b , three frequency band filters can beapplied, e.g., low, middle and high. In this case, the frequencycomponents in the high frequency band are further enhanced.

There will still be some residual noise in the output of the optimizedcombined signal. An adaptive noise suppression technique, e.g., OutputSignal Optimization 614 can be applied in this last stage to furtherreduce the noise to the minimum level.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a plot of a typical Fuzzy S Function is shown.The plot of a fuzzy S function shows the combination optimization of themulti-sensor signals. For example, in case one, if the average energy ofthe bone conduction microphone is larger than the average energy of theair conduction microphone, the ratio between the bone conduction sensorenergy and air conduction sensor energy, Rba, will be a much larger one.When there is a larger R_(ba) value, the output from the S function willbe closer to one (1). As illustrated in equation (3), G_(c) will also beclosed to one (1), so the final combined signal will be contributedmainly by the air conduction microphone.

This same concept applies to equation (5) when the energy from the airconducted sensor is much larger than the bone conducted sensor.Therefore, when the energy is equal, the algorithm will take 50% of thebone conducted signal and combine with 50% of the air conducted signal.

In a motorcycle scenario, the motor noise, road noise, and wind noisewill generally be picked up by the air conduction microphone. Thesetypes of noise will have less effect on the bone conduction microphone.The average energy from the air conduction microphone will be muchlarger than the bone conduction microphone. The system will output moresignal from the bone conduction microphone, thereby the noise will besignificantly reduced. However, in a quiet environment, the system willtake more signal from the air conduction microphone rather than the boneconduction microphone so as to get a much better speech quality. As iswell known, speech quality of an air conduction microphone is muchbetter than the bone conduction microphone.

Referring now to FIG. 8, illustrated is a flow diagram 800 for helmetcommunication in extreme wind and environmental noise in accordance withone or more embodiments described herein.

At 802, the flow diagram 800 comprises determining, by a signalprocessor of a headwear system, vibration signal data from a vibrationsignal representative of vocal sound from a user sensed via a boneconduction microphone positioned at the user's vertex on the top part ofthe user's head.

At 804, the flow diagram 800 comprises determining, by the signalprocessor, sound signal data from a sound signal received representativeof the vocal sound that was sensed by an air conduction microphone byair, wherein the air conduction microphone is positioned at a front ofthe headwear system to receive the sound signal via air, and away fromthe bone conduction microphone to decrease an interference between thebone conduction microphone and the air conduction microphone relative tocloser positioning of the bone conduction microphone and the airconduction microphone.

At 806, the flow diagram 800 comprises processing, by the signalprocessor, the vibration signal data and the sound signal data togenerate combined signal data representative of the vocal sound thatincreases a signal to noise ratio of the vocal sound of the combinedsignal data relative to the vocal sound as represented in the vibrationsignal data or the vocal sound as represented in the sound signal data,the processing comprising suppressing residual noise represented in thecombined signal, resulting in processed combined signal data.

At 808, the flow diagram 800 comprises outputting, by the signalprocessor via radio frequency circuitry, the processed combined signaldata to a user device for further usage by an application or serviceexecuted in connection with the user device.

The communication in extreme wind and environmental noise can furthercomprise applying, by the signal processor, adaptive noise suppressionto defined frequency bands of the combined signal for furthersuppression of noise represented in the combined signal.

The communication in extreme wind and environmental noise can furthercomprise applying, by the signal processor, high frequency enhancementof frequencies represented in the combined signal that are in a definedhigh frequency range.

Referring now to FIGS. 9a and 9b , the unique bone conduction sensoramplifier design 900 allows for the bone conduction microphone to beplaced away from the transceiver radio frequency source so as tosignificantly reduce radio frequency interference and yet be able toprovide a clean signal output to the processor board.

In order to provide additional context for various embodiments describedherein, FIG. 10 and the following discussion are intended to provide abrief, general description of a suitable computing environment 1000 inwhich the various embodiments of the embodiment described herein can beimplemented. While the embodiments have been described above in thegeneral context of computer-executable instructions that can run on oneor more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that theembodiments can be also implemented in combination with other programmodules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the inventive methods can be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor computersystems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, Internet of Things (IoT)devices, distributed computing systems, as well as personal computers,hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, and the like, each of which can be operativelycoupled to one or more associated devices.

The illustrated embodiments of the embodiments herein can be also bepracticed in distributed computing environments where certain tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Computing devices typically include a variety of media, which caninclude computer-readable storage media, machine-readable storage media,and/or communications media, which two terms are used herein differentlyfrom one another as follows. Computer-readable storage media ormachine-readable storage media can be any available storage media thatcan be accessed by the computer and includes both volatile andnonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example,and not limitation, computer-readable storage media or machine-readablestorage media can be implemented in connection with any method ortechnology for storage of information such as computer-readable ormachine-readable instructions, program modules, structured data orunstructured data.

Computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to,random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electricallyerasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or othermemory technology, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), digitalversatile disk (DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD) or other optical disk storage,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, solid state drives or other solid statestorage devices, or other tangible and/or non-transitory media which canbe used to store desired information. In this regard, the terms“tangible” or “non-transitory” herein as applied to storage, memory orcomputer-readable media, are to be understood to exclude onlypropagating transitory signals per se as modifiers and do not relinquishrights to all standard storage, memory or computer-readable media thatare not only propagating transitory signals per se.

Computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local orremote computing devices, e.g., via access requests, queries or otherdata retrieval protocols, for a variety of operations with respect tothe information stored by the medium.

Communications media typically embody computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other structured or unstructureddata in a data signal such as a modulated data signal, e.g., a carrierwave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information deliveryor transport media. The term “modulated data signal” or signals refersto a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changedin such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. By wayof example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media,such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless mediasuch as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

With reference again to FIG. 10, the example environment 1000 forimplementing various embodiments of the aspects described hereinincludes a computer 1002, the computer 1002 including a processing unit1004, a system memory 1006 and a system bus 1008. The system bus 1008couples system components including, but not limited to, the systemmemory 1006 to the processing unit 1004. The processing unit 1004 can beany of various commercially available processors. Dual microprocessorsand other multi-processor architectures can also be employed as theprocessing unit 1004.

The system bus 1008 can be any of several types of bus structure thatcan further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memorycontroller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofcommercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1006includes ROM 1010 and RAM 1012. A basic input/output system (BIOS) canbe stored in a non-volatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, which BIOS contains the basic routinesthat help to transfer information between elements within the computer1002, such as during startup. The RAM 1012 can also include a high-speedRAM such as static RAM for caching data.

The computer 1002 further includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD)1014 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), one or more external storage devices 1016(e.g., a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1016, a memory stick or flashdrive reader, a memory card reader, etc.) and an optical disk drive 1020(e.g., which can read or write from a CD-ROM disc, a DVD, a BD, etc.).While the internal HDD 1014 is illustrated as located within thecomputer 1002, the internal HDD 1014 can also be configured for externaluse in a suitable chassis (not shown). Additionally, while not shown inenvironment 1000, a solid state drive (SSD) could be used in additionto, or in place of, an HDD 1014. The HDD 1014, external storagedevice(s) 1016 and optical disk drive 1020 can be connected to thesystem bus 1008 by an HDD interface 1024, an external storage interface1026 and an optical drive interface 1028, respectively. The interface1024 for external drive implementations can include at least one or bothof Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) interface technologies. Other externaldrive connection technologies are within contemplation of theembodiments described herein.

The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media providenonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executableinstructions, and so forth. For the computer 1002, the drives andstorage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digitalformat. Although the description of computer-readable storage mediaabove refers to respective types of storage devices, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of storagemedia which are readable by a computer, whether presently existing ordeveloped in the future, could also be used in the example operatingenvironment, and further, that any such storage media can containcomputer-executable instructions for performing the methods describedherein.

A number of program modules can be stored in the drives and RAM 1012,including an operating system 1030, one or more application programs1032, other program modules 1034 and program data 1036. All or portionsof the operating system, applications, modules, and/or data can also becached in the RAM 1012. The systems and methods described herein can beimplemented utilizing various commercially available operating systemsor combinations of operating systems.

Computer 1002 can optionally comprise emulation technologies. Forexample, a hypervisor (not shown) or other intermediary can emulate ahardware environment for operating system 1030, and the emulatedhardware can optionally be different from the hardware illustrated inFIG. 10. In such an embodiment, operating system 1030 can comprise onevirtual machine (VM) of multiple VMs hosted at computer 1002.Furthermore, operating system 1030 can provide runtime environments,such as the Java runtime environment or the .NET framework, forapplications 1032. Runtime environments are consistent executionenvironments that allow applications 1032 to run on any operating systemthat includes the runtime environment. Similarly, operating system 1030can support containers, and applications 1032 can be in the form ofcontainers, which are lightweight, standalone, executable packages ofsoftware that include, e.g., code, runtime, system tools, systemlibraries and settings for an application.

Further, computer 1002 can be enabled with a security module, such as atrusted processing module (TPM). For instance with a TPM, bootcomponents hash next in time boot components, and wait for a match ofresults to secured values, before loading a next boot component. Thisprocess can take place at any layer in the code execution stack ofcomputer 1002, e.g., applied at the application execution level or atthe operating system (OS) kernel level, thereby enabling security at anylevel of code execution.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1002 throughone or more wired/wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 1038, a touchscreen 1040, and a pointing device, such as a mouse 1042. Other inputdevices (not shown) can include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remotecontrol, a radio frequency (RF) remote control, or other remote control,a joystick, a virtual reality controller and/or virtual reality headset,a game pad, a stylus pen, an image input device, e.g., camera(s), agesture sensor input device, a vision movement sensor input device, anemotion or facial detection device, a biometric input device, e.g.,fingerprint or iris scanner, or the like. These and other input devicesare often connected to the processing unit 1004 through an input deviceinterface 1044 that can be coupled to the system bus 1008, but can beconnected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an IEEE serialport, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, a BLUETOOTH® interface,etc.

A monitor 1046 or other type of display device can be also connected tothe system bus 1008 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1048. Inaddition to the monitor 1046, a computer typically includes otherperipheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.

The computer 1002 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, such as a remote computer(s) 1050. The remotecomputer(s) 1050 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, apersonal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainmentappliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer1002, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device1052 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted includewired/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 1054 and/orlarger networks, e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1056. Such LAN and WANnetworking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, andfacilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all ofwhich can connect to a global communications network, e.g., theInternet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1002 can beconnected to the local network 1054 through a wired and/or wirelesscommunication network interface or adapter 1058. The adapter 1058 canfacilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1054, which canalso include a wireless access point (AP) disposed thereon forcommunicating with the adapter 1058 in a wireless mode.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1002 can includea modem 1060 or can be connected to a communications server on the WAN1056 via other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1056,such as by way of the Internet. The modem 1060, which can be internal orexternal and a wired or wireless device, can be connected to the systembus 1008 via the input device interface 1044. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 1002 orportions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device1052. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areexample and other means of establishing a communications link betweenthe computers can be used.

When used in either a LAN or WAN networking environment, the computer1002 can access cloud storage systems or other network-based storagesystems in addition to, or in place of, external storage devices 1016 asdescribed above. Generally, a connection between the computer 1002 and acloud storage system can be established over a LAN 1054 or WAN 1056e.g., by the adapter 1058 or modem 1060, respectively. Upon connectingthe computer 1002 to an associated cloud storage system, the externalstorage interface 1026 can, with the aid of the adapter 1058 and/ormodem 1060, manage storage provided by the cloud storage system as itwould other types of external storage. For instance, the externalstorage interface 1026 can be configured to provide access to cloudstorage sources as if those sources were physically connected to thecomputer 1002.

The computer 1002 can be operable to communicate with any wirelessdevices or entities operatively disposed in wireless communication,e.g., a printer, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portabledata assistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment orlocation associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk,news stand, store shelf, etc.), and telephone. This can include WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) and BLUETOOTH® wireless technologies. Thus, thecommunication can be a predefined structure as with a conventionalnetwork or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a schematic block diagramof a computing environment 1100 in accordance with this specification.The system 1100 includes one or more client(s) 1102, (e.g., computers,smart phones, tablets, cameras, PDA's). The client(s) 1102 can behardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices).The client(s) 1102 can house cookie(s) and/or associated contextualinformation by employing the specification, for example.

The system 1100 also includes one or more server(s) 1104. The server(s)1104 can also be hardware or hardware in combination with software(e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). The servers 1104 canhouse threads to perform transformations of media items by employingaspects of this disclosure, for example. One possible communicationbetween a client 1102 and a server 1104 can be in the form of a datapacket adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processeswherein data packets can include coded analyzed headspaces and/or input.The data packet can include a cookie and/or associated contextualinformation, for example. The system 1100 includes a communicationframework 1106 (e.g., a global communication network such as theInternet) that can be employed to facilitate communications between theclient(s) 1102 and the server(s) 1104.

Communications can be facilitated via a wired (including optical fiber)and/or wireless technology. The client(s) 1102 are operatively connectedto one or more client data store(s) 1108 that can be employed to storeinformation local to the client(s) 1102 (e.g., cookie(s) and/orassociated contextual information). Similarly, the server(s) 1104 areoperatively connected to one or more server data store(s) 1110 that canbe employed to store information local to the servers 1104.

In one exemplary implementation, a client 1102 can transfer an encodedfile, (e.g., encoded media item), to server 1104. Server 1104 can storethe file, decode the file, or transmit the file to another client 1102.It is to be appreciated, that a client 1102 can also transferuncompressed file to a server 1104 and server 1104 can compress the fileand/or transform the file in accordance with this disclosure. Likewise,server 1104 can encode information and transmit the information viacommunication framework 1106 to one or more clients 1102.

The illustrated aspects of the disclosure may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed byremote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, program modules can belocated in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The above description includes non-limiting examples of the variousembodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components or methods for purposes ofdescribing the disclosed subject matter, and one skilled in the art mayrecognize that further combinations and permutations of the variousembodiments are possible. The disclosed subject matter is intended toembrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

With regard to the various functions performed by the above describedcomponents, devices, circuits, systems, etc., the terms (including areference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended toalso include, unless otherwise indicated, any structure(s) whichperforms the specified function of the described component (e.g., afunctional equivalent), even if not structurally equivalent to thedisclosed structure. In addition, while a particular feature of thedisclosed subject matter may have been disclosed with respect to onlyone of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one ormore other features of the other implementations as may be desired andadvantageous for any given or particular application.

The terms “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” as used herein are intendedto mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For theavoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limitedby such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as“exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meantto preclude equivalent structures and techniques known to one skilled inthe art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,”“contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detaileddescription or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive—in amanner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transitionword—without precluding any additional or other elements.

The term “or” as used herein is intended to mean an inclusive “or”rather than an exclusive “or.” For example, the phrase “A or B” isintended to include instances of A, B, and both A and B. Additionally,the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appendedclaims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless eitherotherwise specified or clear from the context to be directed to asingular form.

The term “set” as employed herein excludes the empty set, e.g., the setwith no elements therein. Thus, a “set” in the subject disclosureincludes one or more elements or entities. Likewise, the term “group” asutilized herein refers to a collection of one or more entities.

The description of illustrated embodiments of the subject disclosure asprovided herein, including what is described in the Abstract, is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to theprecise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments and examples aredescribed herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications arepossible that are considered within the scope of such embodiments andexamples, as one skilled in the art can recognize. In this regard, whilethe subject matter has been described herein in connection with variousembodiments and corresponding drawings, where applicable, it is to beunderstood that other similar embodiments can be used or modificationsand additions can be made to the described embodiments for performingthe same, similar, alternative, or substitute function of the disclosedsubject matter without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosedsubject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment describedherein, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope inaccordance with the appended claims below.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus integral with, or attachable to, aprotective headgear, comprising: a cushioned bendable material integralwith, or attachable to, an inside of a top part of the protectiveheadgear; a bone conduction microphone, at a first position within thecushioned bendable material, that obtains vibration signal datarepresentative of a vibration signal associated with vibration of a uservertex area of skull bone of a user, wherein the user vertex area ofskull bone is located at a top part of skin of a head of the user thatcontacts or substantially contacts the bone conduction microphone, andwherein the vibration signal results from vocal communication of theuser; an air conduction microphone integral with, or attachable to, theprotective headgear at a second position away from the first position ofthe bone conduction microphone by at least a defined distance, whereinthe air conduction microphone obtains tonal signal data representativeof a tonal signal, received by the air conduction microphone via air andrepresentative of the vocal communication of the user; and a signalprocessor that processes the vibration signal data and the tonal signaldata, to produce combined data representative of the vocal communicationthat substantially reduces or eliminates at least one of a first noiseassociated with the vibration signal data or a second noise associatedwith the tonal signal data.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising: a wind sensor that senses wind signal data representative ofan air noise signal resulting from incident air flow on the protectiveheadgear, and wherein the signal processor processes the vibrationsignal data, the tonal signal data, and the wind signal data to producethe combined data representative of the vocal communication thatsubstantially reduces or eliminates at least one of the first noiseassociated with the vibration signal data, the second noise associatedwith the tonal signal data, or a third noise associated with the windsignal data.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second position istoward a front of the protective headgear relative to the first positionby at least the defined distance, wherein, at the first position withinthe cushioned bendable material at the inside of the top part of theprotective headgear, the bone conduction microphone is substantiallyisolated from other vibrational signals, wherein the other vibrationsignals comprise signals resulting from wind impacting the headgear orfrom external environment sound generated outside of the headgearimpacting the headgear, and wherein the external environment soundcomprises motor sound generated by a motor or engine.
 4. The apparatusof claim 1, further comprising: a radio frequency transmitter totransmit the vocal communication by the user to another device; and aradio frequency receiver to receive other communications from the otherdevice, wherein the other device is a user equipment or Internet ofThings device.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the position of thebone conduction microphone within the cushioned bendable material andthe bone conduction sensor facing the top part of the head correspondingto the user vertex isolates the bone conduction microphone frominterference from the radio frequency transmitter or the radio frequencyreceiver.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a firstspeaker that outputs a first audio signal received from the signalprocessor representative of first audio for a first region associatedwith a left ear associated with the head; and a second speaker thatoutputs a second audio signal from the signal processor representativeof second audio for a second region associated with a right earassociated with the head.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, prior toproducing the combined signal, a gain equalization is applied to thebone conduction microphone and the air conduction microphone to ensure aconsistency of gain of respective outputs with respect to one another.8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal processor comprises anacoustic echo canceller that removes or substantially removes, from thecombined signal, echo signals that result from acoustic coupling betweenat least one of the bone conduction microphone and a speaker thatrenders the vocal communication of the user, or the air conductionmicrophone and the speaker.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecushioned bendable material comprises at least one of at least onerubberized foam layer or at least one silicon casing layer.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the vibration signal data is representedas a first fast fourier transform of the vibration signal, wherein thetonal signal data is represented as a second fast fourier transform ofthe tonal signal, and wherein the signal processor processing thevibration signal data and the tonal signal data to produce the combineddata comprises the signal processor determining whether a first runningaverage energy of the vibration signal is greater than a second runningaverage energy of the tonal signal.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the signal processor processing the vibration signal data andthe tonal signal data to produce the combined data further comprises, inresponse to the first running average energy being determined to begreater than the second running average energy, applying a non-linearFuzze function of the second running average energy divided by the firstrunning average energy.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein thesignal processor processing the vibration signal data and the tonalsignal data to produce the combined data further comprises, in responseto the first running average energy being determined to be less than thesecond running average energy, applying a non-linear Fuzze function ofthe first running average energy divided by the second running averageenergy.
 13. A headgear apparatus, comprising: compressible foam materialattachable to a top part of gear that is wearable by a head of a user,the compressible foam material comprising: a bone conduction microphoneembedded in the compressible foam material and positioned to face a uservertex at a top portion of a skull of the user, wherein the boneconduction microphone senses a vibration signal, representative of vocalsound from the user, from a corresponding vibration of the user vertexat the top portion of the skull, wherein the bone conduction microphonebeing embedded at the top portion substantially isolates the vibrationsignal sensed by the bone conduction microphone from mechanicalvibrations resulting from wind on the gear or air vibrations resultingfrom external sound on the gear from external environment soundgenerated outside of the gear; an air conduction microphone that sensesa sound signal representative of the vocal sound received from the userby air, wherein the air conduction microphone is not comprised in thecompressible foam material, and wherein the air conduction microphone ispositioned away from the bone conduction microphone in order to receivethe vocal sound of the user by air; and a signal processing unit thatprocesses the vibration signal and the sound signal, to generate acombined signal representative of the vocal sound that substantiallyreduces at least one of a first noise associated with the vibrationsignal or a second noise associated with the sound signal, and thatoutputs the combined signal from the headgear apparatus to a device forfurther use or processing.
 14. The headgear apparatus of claim 13,wherein the signal processing unit processing the vibration signal dataand the tonal signal data to produce the combined data comprises thesignal processing unit enhancing a defined high frequency band offrequencies represented in at least the vibration signal data.
 15. Theheadgear apparatus of claim 13, wherein the combined signal is outputfrom the headgear apparatus to the device for at least one of performinga command by the device associated with a voice command determined to bepresent in the vocal sound of the combined signal, storing the vocalsound by the other device, or communicating the vocal sound to at leastone other device in communication with the device.
 16. The headgearapparatus of claim 13, wherein the bone conduction microphone beingembedded in the compressible foam material comprises the bone conductionmicrophone being encased by at least one silicon layer, resulting in anencased bone conduction microphone in the compressible foam materialthat makes contact with the user vertex through a cutout in thecompressible foam material.
 17. The headgear apparatus of claim 16,wherein the encased bone conduction microphone protrudes from the cutoutin the compressible foam material to make a pressured contact with thehead at the user vertex.
 18. A method, comprising: determining, by asignal processor of a headwear system, vibration signal data from avibration signal representative of vocal sound from a user sensed via abone conduction microphone positioned with respect to a user vertex on atop part of a head of the user; determining, by the signal processor,sound signal data from a sound signal received representative of thevocal sound that was sensed by an air conduction microphone by air,wherein the air conduction microphone is positioned at a front of theheadwear system to receive the sound signal via air, and away from thebone conduction microphone to decrease an interference between the boneconduction microphone and the air conduction microphone relative tocloser positioning of the bone conduction microphone and the airconduction microphone; processing, by the signal processor, thevibration signal data and the sound signal data to generate combinedsignal data representative of the vocal sound that increases a signal tonoise ratio of the vocal sound of the combined signal data relative tothe vocal sound as represented in the vibration signal data or the vocalsound as represented in the sound signal data, the processing comprisingsuppressing residual noise represented in the combined signal, resultingin processed combined signal data; and outputting, by the signalprocessor via radio frequency circuitry, the processed combined signaldata to a user device for further usage by an application or serviceexecuted in connection with the user device.
 19. The method of claim 18,further comprising applying, by the signal processor, adaptive noisesuppression to defined frequency bands of the combined signal forfurther suppression of noise represented in the combined signal.
 20. Themethod of claim 18, further comprising applying, by the signalprocessor, high frequency enhancement of frequencies represented in thecombined signal that are in a defined high frequency range.